Category Archives: Children’s / YA Lit

Permanent Rose

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

Other Jenny put me on to these books about the Casson family, by Hilary McKay, some time ago. By now, after I’ve finished the third book in the series, I’m a complete convert: I’m at the point where I’m trying … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction | 3 Comments

Puck of Pook’s Hill

Posted on March 9, 2013 by

The history of any place is a balance between fact and storytelling — myth, you might say, or even nostalgia — and in any given rendition, one side is weighed down and sometimes the other. In Puck of Pook’s Hill, … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Classics, Fiction | 12 Comments

Terra

Posted on February 27, 2013 by

Terra is a scavenger on a far-future Earth. She picks up bits of metal and wire — or better yet, precious plastic — and recycles them for credits so she and her younger brother Mica can survive. After a life-altering … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | Tagged | 3 Comments

The Willoughbys

Posted on January 21, 2013 by

There’s nothing I like better than an author who is well aware of narrative conventions. (I am mulling over Nabokov’s Ada, or Ardor, as we speak, so I am immersed in this notion.) Some authors want to reinvent the wheel; … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction | 23 Comments

Wolf Story

Posted on December 3, 2012 by

My husband chose Wolf Story, written in 1947 by William McCleery, for our son’s fifth birthday. I’d never heard of it, but the New York Review Collection is always pretty reliable: they’ve put out the Jenny and the Cat Club … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction | 12 Comments

The Wild Angel

Posted on October 8, 2012 by

I love children’s books that are about ordinary lives: no magic, no amulets, no spells, just children going about their everyday business. Some of my very favorite books are in this category: Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, the Little … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction | 19 Comments

Indigo’s Star

Posted on September 26, 2012 by

I’m boggled to see that it’s been nearly all of three years since I read the first in Hilary McKay’s series about the loving, chaotic Casson family, Saffy’s Angel. I loved it in 2009, and I said I’d read sequels … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction | 5 Comments

Railsea

Posted on August 22, 2012 by

China Miéville seems like exactly the kind of writer I would like. His strange and complex worlds, often just a little weirdly different from our own, are right up my alley. (Block that metaphor!) But my first try at his prose … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 18 Comments

Weirdstone of Brisingamen / The Moon of Gomrath

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

When I was just a few chapters into Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brsingamen, I was sure I had found a new favorite fantasy series. The 1960 novel follows the adventures of Susan and Colin, two children who are spending … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 10 Comments

The Mouse and His Child

Posted on August 9, 2012 by

For years, I didn’t know that Russell Hoban had written anything besides his wonderful Frances books for children. (My own favorite is A Baby Sister for Frances: we often quote her around our house, as in, “Things aren’t very good … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 15 Comments